


Caretakers

by strawberryTala



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dragons, Family, Gen, Urban Fantasy, Zarc calls the boys any and all variations of 'tiny', Zarc is an ass but loves his siblings anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-25 09:50:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22034005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberryTala/pseuds/strawberryTala
Summary: Having Zarc as a big brother was hard.Like earlier today, when they had come home to find Zarc waiting in the driveway, leaning against the car. “Get in. We’re going on a trip.”And that was that.
Relationships: Sakaki Yuya & Yuto & Yugo & Yuri & Zarc
Comments: 8
Kudos: 78





	Caretakers

**Author's Note:**

> Secret santa gift for Hitotsuki! Hope it's okay ^^

* * *

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

Yuya sighed, having heard this same exchange more times than he can count in the last hour. Yuri rolled his eyes in the seat next to him, a thick book splayed open in his lap. How he could read in the car without getting sick was a mystery, especially with how bumpy the road could get. Yuto sat in the seat in front of him, headphones on with the vague sound of rock music coming from them. Yugo, who had asked the question, let out a groan and sunk down in his seat next to Yuto, Switch held in his hands. “How much longer? My ass is going numb.”

“Stop complaining, it’s not making the trip easier,” Yuri says without looking up from his book, turning a page.

“As if you weren’t fuming the whole first hour. Don’t act all high and mighty.”

Yuri moves to raise his leg and shove it into the back of Yugo’s seat, but Yuya shoves his elbow hard into his side, the glare he receives in response not even making him blink.

“About two hours left. We’re stopping to eat soon, so behave yourselves until then.” They all jump at the tone and look front to the driver’s seat.

Zarc looks back at them through the rearview mirror, meeting each of their eyes steadily, as if daring them to make a fuss. No one does, and he turns back to the road, somehow not even getting close to an accident.

Yuya turns back to his phone and puts on an audiobook, the third book in a fantasy series he’d started today. He’d planned on taking his time with it over the summer.

Too bad Zarc decided they were going on a trip.

* * *

Having Zarc as a big brother was hard.

The man had little regard for other people, talking in ways that were hard to understand, disappearing for days on end only to reappear again as if he’d never been gone in the first place. He also had a habit of dragging them along on things with no warning.

Like earlier today, when they had come home to find Zarc waiting in the driveway, leaning against the car. “Get in. We’re going on a trip.”

And that was that.

Sure, they protested. They always did, but it’s more for the sake of it, because even if all of them share a stubborn streak, Zarc could outlast all of them. And he always got his way in the end.

But five hours in a car, only stopping for breaks and food, was pushing it. But arguing with Zarc was like arguing with a wall that knew how to talk around you. Especially with the strategizing it ended up needing.

The Sakaki family had a van for a car, so all of them could fit, but planning was needed. Yuri and Yugo couldn’t sit next to each other if Yuri was in a provoking mode, which was often, or if Yugo was feeling irritable. Yuto couldn’t sit next to either of them if he was in an irritable mood, and if he got too worked up Yuto could get mean. Yuya was usually fine sitting with anyone, except for when he himself was feeling surly and his temper could come out. If it got too heated, Zarc would promptly pull over and force someone to sit in the front next to him for a while.

“Seriously though, where are we headed?” Yuya finally asks after another hour. The road has been bumpy for a while now, tall trees everywhere and even mountains visible in the distance. They were probably far from Maiami City now. Yugo is now sitting next to him, sleeping and leaning up against the window on one of the pillows they kept in the car. Yuya’s surprised he’s managed to sleep through the rough ride. Zarc wasn’t the most delicate driver to begin with either.

“Vacation house. I’ve got something for you squirts to do.”

Yuto perks up at the first proper hint at what Zarc had dragged them out for. He’d put away his headphones a while ago and was now reading one of his dumb gothic novels. “What are we gonna do?”

“You’ll see when we get there,” Zarc says dismissively, making a turn deeper into the woods, the branches shielding the sun. They drive over some large roots growing on the road and hit a particularly deep hole in the ground that makes them jump and Yugo waking up with a jolt.

“What, we couldn’t do this at home?” Yuri sneers.

“If we could I wouldn’t have dragged you brats with me on a five-hour trip, would I? Don’t be stupid.”

Yuya and Yugo snort as Yuri glares at the back of Zarc’s seat.

Finally, they pull up into a clearing, and all four of them are leaning to better see outside at the new place they were in. What first caught their eyes was the house in the middle of the clearing. It was big, three stories tall, with slanted roofs and a chimney sticking out of it. The walls were a light green and the windows were round, some even in coloured glass. The double doors at the front were black in colour and had steps leading up to it.

Behind the house there was another, even bigger building, looking almost like a barn, except it had tubes coming out and then going in again. A giant tree, bigger than anything any of them had ever seen, stood some ways away, branches big and thick and white flowers growing on it.

Zarc drives up under a shelter made of wood and turning off the motor. “We’re here. Out.”

One by one they tumble out of the car, stretching their stiff limbs and gratefully breathing in the fresh forest air. It was so quiet out here, the only sounds being bird song and the trees rustling in the wind.

“...The hell is this place?” Yugo is the first one to say, looking around with wide eyes.

Yuya walks over to where Zarc is standing by the open trunk, only to get a big bag thrust out to him that he scrambles to hold onto. He recognizes it as the bag he always has when they go on trips. He looks at the man with a raised eyebrow. “Is this where you disappear to all the time?”

Zarc hands out a suitcase each to Yuri and Yuto. “Usually.”

“...Is this the part where we’re brought to a cult as sacrifices for their god?” Yuto asks grimly, looking down at the luggage in his arms.

Yuya frowns thoughtfully. “Hope not, I don’t have my pocket knife on me.”

“Stop that!” Yugo loudly quits in, looking uneasy. “That kinda stuff doesn’t happen outside of movies!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. There are all kinds of people in the world, they might just be waiting for night to fall to spill your guts on an altar,” Yuri says, smiling mischievously.

Yugo slaps his hands over his ears, dropping his bag to the ground with a thud in the process. “Aaaahh I can’t hear you!!”

Yuya laughs nervously and Yuto only sighs. Yuri snickers only to yelp as Zarc flicks his forehead. “Don’t scare your brother. We’re gonna be here for a while and I want all of you to actually sleep.”

Yuri rubs the spot with a frown. “Yeah yeah, I was just teasing him a little.”

Zarc only lets out a sigh, hefts his bag over his shoulder and goes to walk to the house, ruffling Yugo’s hair as he passes. “You know the only way I’d be involved in a cult is if I were the god they worshipped.”

They blink at his back, before sharing a look between them all.

“Hurry up and get over here!”

They jump and hurry to pick up their bags and jog over to where Zarc was impatiently waiting. The man unlocked the door, pushed it open and they all stepped into what seemed to be a front hall. The ceiling was high, a coiling staircase led up to the second floor, a railing visible from the ground floor. The place looked lavish, a bit old, but also cozy. The wall ahead showed the barn-like structure and a big garden behind the house through it’s tall, wide windows.

“Just leave the stuff in the hall.”

“Huh? We’re still going somewhere?” Yuya asks in confusion once he’s managed to gawking.

Zarc just passes by them and goes out the door again and all they can do is follow after him. They circle around the house to the back, walking past big bushes and flowers, there was even a big lake some ways away, walking until they reached the other building here. Closer up, they saw it was in top condition and had very solid walls.

Trepidation filled them when they saw that the doors had a padlock on them.

Yugo leaned close to Yuya and whispers. “Think we’re gonna get fed to his weird pets?”

“If we are, we push Yuri in first,” Yuya whispers back. They bump their closed hands together in agreement.

Finally, the padlock is removed and Zarc pushes the doors open to a crack. He gestures for them to enter first, which they do one by one.

The inside is dark, even more so when the door is shut close behind them. A light switch is turned on, and the room fills with light. And they blink.

It looked like a big playing area. Objects in all kinds of sizes and odd shapes that looked like some types of toys are spread around. Tubes, a ball pit, slides, stairs that lead to lofts above. Lots of things were hanging from the ceiling at varying altitudes.

And there was a vague sound of… trilling?

Suddenly, a small black shape hurled towards them through the air, making them jump and some scream in surprise. Zarc stepped forward and easily caught it.

“Hello lovely, have you been well?” he says with an almost disgusting fondness in his voice, petting the thing in his arms. And as the man turned towards them, they could see what it was as it climbed up Zarc’s arm and up onto his shoulder that it was on the edge of being too big for. Small gold eyes stare at them without blinking. Spiky, black, green and scaley.

“Is… is that a dragon?” Yuto asks dubiously.

“Yes,” Zarc answers bluntly, lifting a finger to scratch at the creature’s head, making it close its eyes and rumble contentedly. “Their name is Z-Arc, but since it’s a bit awkward I just refer to them as Arc.”

Yuri gives him a disbelieving look. “Did you seriously name a dragon after yourself?”

Zarc rolls his eyes as if the question is silly. “You do not name dragons, Yuri. They already have names at birth, and they’ll let you know what it is if they wish to do so. Giving them another name without permission is just disrespectful.”

“...I don’t get it,” Yugo says after thinking for a while.

Zarc smiles. “You will, I’m sure of it.” He turns and walks over to another door further back, opening that as well and walking in. When they reach it too, they see a room filled with soft colours, big windows and lots of pillows and blankets. Inside, the temperature is pleasantly warm but not overbearingly so.

And in the middle, on a low table with a sunk middle, there were four eggs, each sat on their own pile of soft linen and cloth.

They were quite big, in wildly different colours, and the boys found themselves gravitating closer to one each. Yuya stepped up to the one in red and bone colours with a scarce few green and blue spots. Yuto to the one in dark and light purple, lightning patterns covering the top. Yugo looked intently at a white and teal egg, with fragmented dust that sparkled in the light covering it. Yuri looked curiously at the bright purple, glowing red and yellow egg, covered in spotty circles and slashes.

“You can touch them if you want.” They jump as if broken from a trance at Zarc’s voice.

Yuya is the first one to dare bring forth his hand, carefully resting his fingertips on the shell. His eyes widen slightly, and soon he’s resting both palms against it. “...It’s warm.”

That makes the others dare touch the eggs as well. Yugo even carefully picks it up, cradling it against his chest with both arms and staring at it. “Hello.”

“Why are you talking to an egg?” Yuto asks, raising an eyebrow at his sibling.

“It’s a living thing, right? So you should say hi,” Yugo answers without looking away.

Zarc smiles in amusement as his younger siblings all start to interact with their eggs. Yuya crouches down to be on eye-level with it, Yuri carefully strokes his fingers over the shell with a glint in his eyes, and Yuto doesn’t let his hands stray far from it even as he draws them over the surface.

“I’m sure you’ve already guessed, but,” Zarc says, getting their attention. “They’re dragon eggs.”

The four boys look down at the eggs with a new light in their eyes over having it be confirmed out loud. Excitement, attachment, anticipation…

Yeah, this is perfect.

“I’m leaving them in your care.”

At that, they all whirl on him with wide eyes, but with different emotions. Yuya and Yuto’s are flabbergasted and bewildered.

“Wha-?! Wait, we don’t know how to take care of dragon eggs! There’s no way we can do it!” Yuya protests, feeling overwhelmed.

Yuto nods. “Aren’t dragons something you need lots of learning and training to even handle? I’ve never even seen one until today, and-”

“Really?” Another voice cuts in, excitement vibrating through it. Yugo looks at Zarc with hopeful eyes, cradling the egg in his arms close. “We can keep them? They’re ours?”

Yuya and Yuto look dumbfounded at him. Yuri doesn’t say anything, but his arms are wrapped around the egg on the table in front of him, intent eyes not leaving Zarc.

“I’m here, and they’re my responsibility, so I’ll help, obviously.” The man smiles. “But yes, they’re yours.”

“Why can’t you do it yourself?” Yuya asks in confusion. “If you need help, sure, but just leaving them to us…”

Zarc scratches at the black dragon still sat on his shoulder under the chin. “Dragons can bond with another human. Depending on the type and how powerful they are, it’d be best if they bond with a human from birth or early childhood. I have Arc, and they’re a handful already, I can’t handle four more this powerful and still be a good and responsible caretaker.”

“Are they that dangerous?” Yuya wonders, looking down at the red egg. His hand hadn’t left it once. The little presence he thought he could feel inside felt happy, yet proud.

“They could be.” Arc jumps and glides from Zarc’s shoulder to land on the table, curling up in the middle between the eggs. “Dragons still in their eggs get affected by the world around them, especially humans, and their emotions. Spend all their time around violent folks, they get violent, and that is really hard to fix. But if you pip-squeaks take good care of them and treat them with love, they’ll be born reflecting that, and you’ll have a companion for life.”

It was overwhelming. Taking care of a dragon egg, ones so powerful, where their care before they were even born could have such big effects.

“I brought you brats here because I knew you’d take good care of them.”

Zarc thought they could do it, had complete faith they would do a good job, and wow wasn’t that a weird idea.

But it was strangely reassuring, too.

The eggs seemed to almost pulse under their hands.

Yuya pets the shell gently. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

Yuto looks at his egg for a moment, before letting out a sigh, and placed his hand against the egg. “Me too.”

Yuri looked at his egg in barely concealed excitement, and Yugo looked at his in clear excitement.

Zarc grinned, and Arc let out a happy, somewhat squeaky roar on the table. “Knew I could count on you runts.”

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Insert future “It’s being born!!!!” joke here


End file.
